Community led GTM or Not? - Dilemma for Founders

Is community-led growth the answer or just a buzzword? Can it provide short-term benefits, or is it a long-term play?

Why community led Growth? Why so much buzz?

With conversion rates plummeting and customers being overwhelmed with monotonous marketing messages, founders and growth hackers face a unique challenge. In this era of cluttered digital space, transactions have become more mechanical than relational, often leaving potential leads unattended. 

The competitive landscape calls for a more sustainable, repeatable, and scalable approach to growth. A community-led growth strategy can answer these concerns. It not only provides a long-term competitive advantage (or 'moat'), but it also streamlines the entire lead acquisition, nurturing, warming, and re-activation process. Through the power of community, current customers can become influential advocates, attracting and referring prospective leads. This strategy fosters an inclusive brand recall, instilling a desire among prospective customers to remain connected to your brand.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. How are your conversion rates faring in the current, oversaturated market, and could a community-led growth strategy improve them?

2. Are your sales conversations nurturing long-term relationships, or are they purely transactional?

3. In your current growth strategy, have you designed an approach for sustained brand recall and a sense of inclusivity among your prospects?

4. Is your existing growth strategy designed for repeatable, scalable success, and does it offer a long-term competitive advantage?

5. Are your customers currently empowered to influence prospective leads and encourage referrals within your growth strategy?

Reflecting on these questions can help determine whether a community-led growth strategy might be the next strategic step for your business.

5 Myths about CLG

Community-led growth is a hot topic, but some founders have misconceptions that keep them from exploring its potential. Let's debunk the top five myths:

1. Myth: Community-Led Growth is Only a Long-Term Play

   - Fact: While community-led growth does have long-term benefits, it can also provide short and mid-term wins. With the right approach, you can start seeing returns earlier than you might think.

2. Myth: Community-Led Growth Will Consume All My Time

   - Fact: With a dedicated team and a structured plan, community-led growth won't monopolize your time. The daily commitment for a community owner could be as little as 60 minutes.

3. Myth: Community-Led Growth Can't Scale and Will Hit a Glass Ceiling

   - Fact: Some of the world's most successful and rapidly growing companies have used community-led growth effectively. With the right value proposition for members, it can scale without hitting a ceiling.

4. Myth: Prospective Customers Won't Want to Join Another Community

   - Fact: It's not about the ideal customer profile but the ideal community member profile. By catering to functional, social, and emotional desires, and following an acquisition to engagement to advocacy process, you'll attract and retain members.

5. Myth: Customers Will Use the Community to Complain About the Product

   - Fact: By setting up separate channels for customer support and go-to-market, and defining the purpose of each, you'll guide customer queries to the right places. Building the community contextually minimizes the chance of negative feedback appearing in the community. 

Understanding these myths can help you see the real potential of community-led growth, a strategy that can drive both customer engagement and business success.

Zero Step - Checklist to audit the effectiveness of current GTM strategy

Assessing the effectiveness of your current go-to-market (GTM) strategy is essential for business growth. It's crucial to understand whether your approach is yielding the desired outcomes, helping you penetrate the market, acquire customers, and build sustainable relationships. This evaluation will provide insights to fine-tune your strategy, enabling you to capitalize on what works and address any shortcomings. 

Here's a checklist to guide your GTM audit:

1. Are you achieving your sales and revenue targets consistently?

2. Are your customer acquisition costs within acceptable limits?

3. Is your customer lifetime value (CLTV) higher than your customer acquisition cost (CAC)?

4. Are your existing customers demonstrating brand loyalty, measured through repeat purchases or subscription renewals?

5. Is your churn rate low and acceptable within your industry standards?

6. Are your products/services gaining adequate market traction and acceptance?

7. Are you successfully penetrating your target market segments?

8. Is your value proposition resonating with your target audience?

9. Is your brand awareness growing within your target markets?

10. Are your marketing and sales efforts leading to qualified lead generation and conversions?

By methodically addressing each of these questions, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your GTM strategy's current effectiveness and identify areas for improvement or the potential of adopting community led GTM approach.

First step - Checklist to identify how you can build Community led Growth engine

The first step in strategizing for community led growth involves deciding whether you would be building community around category, brand, or product. To help you decide, I am sharing a checklist below...

Category

1. Does your category inspire discussion, exploration, or shared learning?

2. Is your category niche enough that a dedicated community would provide value to members?

3. Is there a lack of existing communities within your category where your audience could naturally congregate?

4. Would a community help in educating and expanding the market for your category?

Brand

1.  Does your brand have a strong and unique personality that resonates with your target audience?

2. Do you consistently produce content, events, or other experiences that a community would appreciate and engage with?

3. Are your customers or followers passionate enough about your brand to participate in discussions, create user-generated content, or advocate for your brand?

4.  Would a community help in solidifying your brand image and cultivating brand loyalty?

Product

1. Does your product encourage social engagement or collaborative use (i.e., is it more valuable when used/shared with others)?

2.  Is your product complex or innovative enough that users would benefit from a community for support, tips, and tricks?

3. Can your product be personalized or used in a variety of ways that would inspire sharing and discussion?

4. Would a community be helpful in gathering user feedback and driving product development?

If you're checking off a number of these boxes for any of these areas, it's a strong sign that you could benefit from a community-led growth strategy in that particular area. 

It's clear that navigating the landscape of growth strategies involves both understanding your needs and debunking prevalent myths. Whether or not a community-led go-to-market strategy is suitable for your business largely depends on your product, your audience, and your resources. 

Myths around community-led growth, such as it being solely a long-term play or a time-consuming endeavor, can often deter businesses from leveraging its full potential. Regular audits of your current GTM strategy will ensure it's effectively driving growth, while a comprehensive checklist can guide the process of building a robust community-led growth engine. As we've explored, this growth strategy can empower customers, build strong brand connections, and ultimately drive your business's success. Make an informed decision and choose the strategy that best aligns with your brand's goals and values.

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